Weekend Trains

I learned something today . . . never, ever, ever take a train to Brooklyn on the weekend. Everytime I try, there are unforseen and unpleasant adventures. As I was taking my normal express D train home I was surprised that it was making local stops. The announcer said that the N was running express so I transferred over thinking this would save me some time. On a normal weekday the N can take me most of the way home where I could then transfer back to the D. But as the N rolled into 36th street there was a very unpleasant announcement:

"This is the last stop for the N express train, the D train will be making all local N stops across the platform."

What??? Two trains, two different tracks what was happening here. So I poked my head into the D train to hear what the conductor was saying there . . . "This D train will be making all local stops on the N track."

I thought, oh, maybe another D will come that is running on the D track so I asked someone about it and the following conversation ensued:

Me: (to no one in particular) "Are there any D trains running today, then?"

Mr. Helpful: "This is the D train."

Me: (thinking I'm clarifying what I am looking for) "Yeah, but it is making N stops."

Mr. Helpful "Yes, but this is the D train."

Me: (noticing that he is not getting it) "I know that, but I am looking for a D train making D stops."

Mr Helpful: "This is the D train, but it is running on the N track."

Me: (growing frustrated, but still think there is hope of finding an answer) "I am aware of that. I would like to know if there are any D trains running on the D track. I'm guessing not."

Mr Helpful: "This is the D train."

Me: (finally realizing that he is just not going to get it) "Thanks for your help."

So, now after hearing repetitively that I was riding a D train following the N track and making N (not D) stops I realized that this D train was really an N incognito. Why the secrecy? Why the mystery? Why not just say - "No D trains outside of Manhattan"? Why send me confusing messages that give me hope of getting home without riding a bus? That's all I want to know.

Death on Schedule

Modern medicine for all its miracles has created so many situations that I think we as people are just not equipped to deal with because . . . it just ain’t natural.

The other day as I was standing outside waiting on the kids to be dismissed from school one of the teacher’s aides I know passed by me. We said our greetings as normal and she said, “see you next week.” Now this was a Tuesday and so I took the cue and asked if she was going anywhere. She said, “I am having problems.” And then it came out. Her mom had been in the hospital and was supposed to be removed from life support that afternoon. She was sad, angry and confused. She was angry because she felt that her mom had a chance and the doctors were taking that away by saying that the family has no choice, her mother had to be removed from life support. She was also confused by her brother’s acceptance of this. He apparently had already gone and made funural arangements. She told me, “but my mother isn’t even dead, yet. It just seems wrong.” I talked to her for a few minutes. My chaplain intern training came in handy. I had attended dozens of deaths and had a good idea of what was to come. I told her I would keep her and her family in my prayers, and I have.
As I’ve thought of her, I’ve thought about dying. It’s not the same anymore. More and more people are dying the way this woman’s mother did. It was not a surprise, but a decision and one that happens according to a hospital schedule.